For the first time in well over a year, Raffi Torres will be playing a game for the San Jose Sharks.

Torres took line rushes Friday morning and will play for the Sharks in their preseason home opener against the Arizona Coyotes at SAP Center.

Torres did not play in San Jose’s first two preseason games earlier this week in British Columbia against the Vancouver Canucks, but he has been practicing with no major difficulty since the start of camp on Sept. 18.

Torres, who has only played 28 regular season and playoff games with the Sharks since he was acquired via trade in April 2013, was taking line rushes with winger Mike Brown and center Bryan Lerg on what figures to be the team’s third line. It’ll be Torres’ first game of any kind since April 30, 2014, which was Game 7 of San Jose’s first round series with the Los Angeles Kings.

“I just go out there and keep my shifts short, for sure, to start. I don’t want to get caught out there with 45-50 second shifts right off the bat,” Torres said Friday morning. “Just be smart. It’s not about going out and trying to get 10-15 hits tonight. It’s just about finding the game, the speed of the game, being in the right spots, be good defensively.”

Torres’ journey to this point has been long and frustrating. He initially tore the ACL in his right knee in preseason in September 2013 and missed the next five months. He returned in late February 2014, played five regular season games, then missed the rest of the regular season.

Torres played in all seven games of the Sharks’ playoff series against the Kings, but he was far from 100 percent. It was later discovered that he had an infection in his right knee. When antibiotics didn’t solve the problem, the decision was made to open the knee and remove the cadaver tissue that had reconnected his ACL.

Torres initially decided to strengthen the muscles around the knee instead of having surgery. But on the advice of Dr. Joel Boyd in Minnesota, Torres went ahead with another surgery in February of this year.

“I’ve tried to put all that stuff behind me,” Torres said. “I feel good right now. It’s nice to be back in the locker room with the guys.”

“I think everyone has seen how hard he’s worked off the ice and what he’s gone through and the frustration of that,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “I know that there’s a lot of people pulling for him.”

DeBoer said he’ll monitor Torres throughout the game, but isn’t planning any limitations on ice time.

“I just want to see him get through a game and start to get his timing back,” DeBoer said. “He hasn’t played in a while. He’s worked awful hard off the ice in order to give himself a chance to get to this point again, and it’ll be a work in progress.”

Torres’ teammates are excited to have him back in a game.

“When he’s in the room it definitely adds some energy,” Sharks forward Joe Pavelski said. “For him to get back out on the ice now is another step in the whole process and we’re excited for him.”

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